Justice News

PIKEVILLE, KY - A Pikeville doctor admitted in federal court that he allowed a pharmacy access to his prescription drug samples that were supposed to go to his patients.

Thad Manning, 48, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to conspiracy to misbranding drugs. Manning agreed to forfeit $250,000 which represents the proceeds he received as a result of the conspiracy. Manning will also enter into drug rehabilitation for an addiction to hydrocodone.

Manning admitted that over the course of several years he received numerous prescription drug samples from various pharmaceutical companies. In the written agreement between Manning and the pharmaceutical companies, Manning pledged to provide the samples to patients. Instead, Manning allowed Marrowbone Clinic Pharmacy (later known as Marrowbone Hometown Pharmacy) to take the prescription samples and co-mingle them with other prescription drugs already in stock bottles. These co-mingled drugs were ultimately dispensed to the pharmacy’s customers.

Because the pharmacy removed the sample medications from their original packaging and mixed them with medications from stock bottles, the drug’s identifying information and expiration information on the stock bottle became inaccurate and thus misbranded. This made it impossible for the consumer to know whether or not their particular medication had been recalled by the Food and Drug Administration or the pharmaceutical companies.

Manning was the last of several individuals to be charged in 2012 as a result of an investigation conducted by the Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigations, the FBI, the Kentucky Board of Pharmacy, the Kentucky Office of the Inspector General and the Kentucky State Police. The individuals that were indicted have been convicted of the charges including a Houston, Texas doctor who wrote unlawful prescriptions for patients from Pike County; six defendants who were distributing narcotics obtained from Marrowbone Clinic Pharmacy; a pharmacy employee who billed insurance carriers for prescriptions that were never filled; the Marrowbone Hometown Pharmacy Corporation for the selling of prescription drug samples; and the pharmacy manager who was convicted of narcotics trafficking and conspiracy to sell prescription drug samples. Pikeville Pharmacist Ronald Huffman was named the 2012 indictment but committed suicide around the time the charges were announced.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office was represented in this case by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee Gentry.

Manning will be sentenced in July 2014. He faces a maximum of one year in prison and a $100,000 fine. However, the Court must consider the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the applicable federal statutes before imposing a sentence.